Ms. Hefferman notes some interesting facts:  40% of all privately held U.S. companies are owned or controlled by women and they are growing at twice the rate of non-women owned firms.  Women entrepreneurs have found a new model for business success since, despite receiving only 5% of all venture capital, women owned firms:

• Create jobs at twice the rate of other companies.
• Grow profits at a faster rate.
• Are more likely  (and companies owned by women of color are FOUR times more likely)  to stay in business than other firms.

I don't want to spoil the fun of the read for those of you who will get the book, so I'll just share some of the table of contents as a "teaser":

Part 1, Fire in the Belly and Skin in the Game

     The Need to Achieve

     Zeitgeist

     Niche is Nice (and Margins Are Marvelous)

Part 2, It Ain't What We Do, It's the Way That We Do It

     The Value of Values

     The Power of People

     Leadership as Orchestration

     Customer Love

     Improvisation

     Help!

You'll have to read the book to learn more...  What is of note is that, according to the Small Business Administration, women are opening businesses in the fastest growing sectors of the economy.  Generally the service sector, this includes healthcare, scientific, professional services.  Federal set-asides for small businesses and minority-owned firms (women qualify as a minority) allow them to be formidable competitors on government contracts.

Women also understand the needs and wants of other women better than males do (remember Venus and Mars?)  They can set up niche firms are able to "capture" the female buyer.  One example is www.girlsflytoo.com, a company that promotes females in the field of aviation with items that appeal to women pilots.

Business  is a complex set of relationship that must be managed and kept in balance.  Relationships with: customers, potential customers, employees, vendors, suppliers, etc.  Women should read this book to learn how other women have used their skills to master these relationships differently than men do.  Men should read this book to learn how women approach business... 40% of your competitors are women and that percentage is growing!